It’s Not a Right: Government Outlaws Rainwater Collection

There is a conflict between the right and the left about unalienable rights and what exactly that entails. Some on the left believe, for example, that health care and housing are rights that should be given to all, while the right argues that these are privileges that should not be given, but earned. Most conservatives and many liberals also believe that the right to bear arms for self protection is a right, though there are opponents who argue that allowing guns in America actually leads to higher crime and the world would be better off without them.

Regardless of where you stand on these issues, one place where there should be absolutely no discussion regarding what protections we have not just as American citizens, but human beings, are our natural rights to produce our own food, harvest our own water and our ability to transfer these in the form of barter, trade or charity amongst consenting parties.

In Federal Food Police Coming Soon to a Farm Near You, Tess Pennington outlines the federal government’s efforts to restrict the production of food on family farms, not just for commercial resale, but personal consumption. Though regulators deny that this is the stated intent of the statutes, it is clear that the letter of the law will essentially give federal agencies the ability to shut down your backyard vegetable garden if they feel the need to do so. Why would federal or local law enforcement move to shut down your personal garden? Arguably, for the same reasons they set up an innocent citizen on his own property for legally firing a rifle – just because they can.

The production of food is very much a natural right, and no matter how much large corporate interests want control of global manufacturing and distribution, this is one area which the government should not and cannot encroach.

In the 21st century, however, it seems that the rights of the people are secondary to corporate profit and government control.

And it’s no more obvious than when we look at what some governments around the U.S. are attempting to do with the acquisition and collection of water. Like food, water is an absolute natural right without which we would perish in a matter of days.

According to Mike Adams of Natural News, several states have moved to control the rights for not just the water under your property, but above it as well.

You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.

As bizarre as it sounds, laws restricting property owners from “diverting” water that falls on their own homes and land have been on the books for quite some time in many Western states. Only recently, as droughts and renewed interest in water conservation methods have become more common, have individuals and business owners started butting heads with law enforcement over the practice of collecting rainwater for personal use.

The argument from government is that rainwater refills reservoirs and is used for the greater good. A valid point, if only it were true. Adams points out that roughly 97% of all water that falls to the ground as rain is either evaporated or seeps into the ground and is absorbed by plants, which means that only about 3% is actually used for human consumption.

Individuals and organizations in local communities are now fighting asinine water harvesting restrictions because they are… how should we put this… ridiculous on their face and a gross and direction violation of our very right to life.

The very idea that somehow government, be it global, federal or local, owns the rights to water falling by way of natural forces into a cup or barrel on your own property indicates that government literally believes the sky is the limit. For more proof of this, look no further than the proposed cap & trade legislation, which looks to further restrict human beings by literally taxing their right to breathe.

We’ve come to a point in our nation where our very lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness are being targeted by big government.

“…there are those in government who believe life and liberty are unequal and negotiable, that they are assignable, that formerly equal guarantees can be preferentially distributed in service of a value system. It is here, with this notion of a latter day nobility, that the legitimacy of the central government ends.”

How can we consider a government to be legitimate when the very things we need for our survival – food, water, and air – become their domain?

Until such time that a corporate interest or government can demonstrate to the people how they are directly responsible for water accumulation and formation of a specific cloud, the movement of said cloud to a specific area of the earth and the triggering of rain from that cloud, they have no jurisdiction over our ability to collect and harvest the resulting rainfall for our personal benefit and survival.

Video: Who Owns the Rain?

Update 07-28-2010 1017 CST:

Portions of the above story were based on rain harvesting restrictions in the state of Utah, as well as other western states. KSL TV 5 of Salt Lake City Utah reports that as of July 2, 2010 the law banning rainwater collection in the state has been modified to allow for personal harvesting and storage with a limit of 200 gallons of above ground storage and 2500 gallons of below ground storage. Utah residents should be thankful that their benevolent government has allowed them to enjoy limited protections under natural law.

Copyright Information: Copyright SHTFplan and Mac Slavo. This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.shtfplan.com. Please contact us for permission to reproduce this content in other media formats.

we need a pee -in in the washington senate building, i.e. thousands of citizens returning outlawed water onto the senate building floor in unison. (please notice i am limiting the deposits to only one form of expression at this time).

I’m not a real religious type but it’s easier for me to believe that God created what gives me rain than Barack Marx and any of his ilk.Â I can live with most of the asinine regulations the government(s) impose on me but the day they say I can’t have a cistern is the day I call it quits and move on to another country where natural rainfall is not a regulated commodity.

In all fairness, here is a link to the King County government website (King County is where Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond are), that tells you how to set up your system. Â They’re encouraging you to collect rainwater. Â I wonder if they know they’re in violation of these laws.

Leading up to WW2 when the Russians were getting buddy-buddy with the Nazis, the Russians confiscated everyone’s food and shipped it to Germany.Â They shot starving peasants who tried to keep food.Â Of course that could never happen in our country since we’re all on the Cargill and Monsanto food plans.Â Starving people will often do exactly what the government wants them to do.Â

J-Boy, YOU might be on the Cargill/Monsanto plan, but not all of us are. Â Right now is the time to get yourself off the nasty plan of those fuckers. Â Even though our economy and world are still upright (at the current time anyway), it takes over a month to learn what you need to know and make the contacts it’s going to take to feed yourself in a SHTF scenario.

I know this because I’ve been working at it for two months now. Â I thought I could just plant a garden and drive down to the local farmers market for what I needed. Â Boy was that idea wrong. Â They say it’s always better to do a full dress rehearsal of a plan that you expect to bet your life on………….

Hmmm…..so if somebody else owns the rainwater, could I sue them if I am damaged by it ?Â Like a flood…..or even if it comes thru holes in my roof and damages my sheetrock ?

Although I’m in agreement most of this is poppycock, what say ya’ll about a situation like this:

Say the State ( as several already do ) says groundwater is a State resource, and you don’t own the ground water under your property……that if you drill a well, you must put a meter on it and pay the State something for the amount you take from the ground…..that would get most everybody’s dander up, right ?

So, say this is fought and repealed……and then a huge, water using industry, or factory farm, or whatever, moves in beside you, drills several wells, and sucks the aquifer dry, or at least drops it below the bottom level of YOUR well, rendering it useless…..do you have any recourse, simply because they are doing on a larger scale the same thing you are….and the ground water flowed in their direction ?

WA state passed an “Executive Order” the the department of ecology.
That sorta legalizes the harvest of rain water for personal use off of existing roofs.
That said it is still a grey area in WA state and someone needs to pee in someones office in Olympia.
I would suggest Hans Dunshee’s or Kevin Van De Wege’s office.

Think about it,using this same justification,we could be taxed on theÂ air that we breathe on our properties since it is a somewhatÂ limitedÂ “state resource” that can be taxed per number of occupants perÂ household…
At some point,people will begin a revolution.

Last evening the farmer down the road spent some time spreading manure.Â Bad, nasty smelling stuff.Â The inside of my house smelled like a barn.Â The farm has been here for over 100 years.Â I built my home on the property I choose, 6 years ago.Â Who’s air is it and can I sue him?Â Â Our government has pushed and pushed to piss off the public.Â Seems they are going to extreme’s now.Â Who owns the rain????????Â WTF?Â Â Once someone in washington gets shot, is the lead his or the citizens that shot him?

[anon]Â “It is time”
Actually it was time about 100 years ago but that’s another story.

Truth is, things always get a lot lot worse before they ever get better and you need millions starving before a nation will revolt against its own government.Â The water issue though is solved by simply building an underground cistern and diverting a flow into it.Â If it’s ever discovered (unlikely if you do the installation properly) just claim the effort was to prevent erosion, or some such politically correct answer.Â Water barrels don’t make a lot of sense in the 21st century anyway.

The Soviet Union was not defeated by Reagan but by the soviet citizens themselves.Â They didn’t take on the politburo head to head either, they simply ignored the propaganda, stole everything they could and did as little work as they could.Â This method of passive resistance works far better than any revolution you could formulate.

The problem with revolution in a modern industrial society is that youÂ cannot simply kill all the bankers and businessmen and then go home and live a happy life.Â This is because these people now control the supply and delivery of all the food, oil, beer and plasma TV’s.Â It just wont work.Â

The basic trouble though is gullibility and indoctrination.Â All day long the polititians and industrialists lie and steal.Â Then they tell the public that they must be honest and not steal?Â The public then goes about it’s business of feeling superior by paying exorbitant taxes and usurious interest rates, playing right into the hands of the propaganda.

There is a big stink about all these people strategically defaulting on mortgages but I think they are the smart ones and I think you will see a lot more of that behavior with credit card debt in the future too.Â The unfortunate part though, laughable actually, is that the pensions of all those defaulters are heavily weighted in securitized mortgage, credit card, and auto loan debts.Â Â Â They are defaulting on their own retirement savings.

wooba, you have hit the nail on the head.Â Passive/aggressive resistance coupled with adequate preparation is the ultimate answer.Â To be sure, one needs to be prepped for the very worst but the more likely outcome of all doom and gloom is a mitigated form of the catastrophe, in any event be prepared.Â I have “retired” twice, once from corporate America and just recently from the military (34 years for pay and 11 years active duty).Â I took all my retirement cash balance account and 401k and paid off all my debts. I have PMs and a nest egg. Â My home, car, 25 acres, etc. are all paid for and I’ve been here for 22 years.Â I started prepping in 98 for y2k and have continued my food storage and equipment preparation since.Â Also I’m a gun guy and am well prepared.Â (Just fyi for the food storage people, there aren’t many people that have done 10+ year food storage experiments, but I have.Â Note; crisco just opened one from 99, not rancid just fine.Â Canned hams, opened themÂ about once a year since 98 and not a one has been bad, got one left and expect it to be good also.Â Bought some canned potatoes 98-99, thought I had used them all, found a can this spring and asked my wife to taste one not knowing where it came from, she said it tasted fine for a canned potatoe.Â I bring this up as FD stuff is expensive and if you aren’t transporting them canned goods are okay.Â Note; these were stored inside the house.Â Just fYI)Â So, anyway, I’m retired and the only money I owe now is for a tractor to help on my land since I have reached the conclusion that I am no longer 16 foot tall and bullet proof. And if TSHF then they can come get it if they can get here, plus it is 0%LOL. Â My goal is to produce 90% of what I need to eat (If not 100%) and make as little money as possible so that I don’t have to pay income tax, ha maybe I’ll get some of those “earned income credits” that the people that don’t pay any taxes now get from the taxes that we have paid for years.Â My goal is to become the best fed non-productive citizen that I can be.Â If more people did that then we would have control of the government since we would decide what and what not to produce.Â I love my country but not my govt.Â Let it collapse and then maybe we can get it back.Â Go back to homesteading, just be a “poor little farmer”.Â It is a healthier lifestyle, more productive and more satisfying.Â Chickens, rabbits and goats, oh my!Â Â

Warning – it is a long article.Â But it fully explains why the Republic has been dying for about 100 years, who is responsible and why.Â These restrictions are but a symptom of the overall problem.Â Read it, then pass it on.

The government is insolvent, impotent, and failing in every way.Â Let them make all the rulesÂ they want.Â I’m not obeying.Â Â I’m a free man in a constitutional republic.Â Â I’ll do as I please.Â You hear that Homeland Security? You hear that Barry Soetoro?Â Â Â Â All of you government people go to hell, and hurry, your father Satan impatiently awaits you and your kindÂ .Â Â The rest of us will exercise our freedoms as our constitutional fathers intended us to.Â Â By force of arms we will protect our liberty, or die in the process of doing so.Â

TripodXL You have a few years up on me prep wise I think but I count my blessings I found out about PM’s 6 years ago and was able to get them in the ground before the market really took off.

I’m a lover of dehydrated foods more than tins but your right, they last decades is stored down below too. Kidney beans have trippled in price since I bought my last sack though solar panels have come right down. I’m a big fan of solar 12V systems though I prefer a gen set for washing machiens and my inverter welder.

It’s all good fun when you finally escape the rat race. Long life to you mate.

I have been a passive “REFUSENICK” for years!!! Ignorance and stupidity isn’t a crime. I love to go into my 85 IQ Act with a representative of the Federal, State or Local Government s. It just drives them freaking bonkers and ruins their whole day! (makes mine!!!) “Duh-huh! I didn’t understand what you just said to me. Could you please explain it to me again?”

I also like to use something that I call myÂ “Penile-Principal Interpersonal Communication Skills”Â against the bastards. When I’m soft, you can’t beat me ……. when I’m hard you’re gonna get f#@%ed

Everyone has to define and establish their own personal ‘point-of-diminishing-returns’. This is the point where you say “enough is enough and I’m not to go any further”.

Comments…..The feds have taken control of the waters of this nation. They have always been controlled by the states. The feds are looking at passing laws to ban fishing ( in yet to be determined waters they say), they have been looking at banning hunting but that is considered a much harder target due to the NRA,Â they have tried to pass a law that would outlaw any growing of any food that is not grown exactly as the law describes ( use of machinery and sizeÂ no matter what the size of your farm or land is, use of chemicals, amounts and schedule to apply these, etc. If you are not a big agribusiness you can’t legally grow food with that law. ButÂ almost 1 million angry responsed blocked that bill but the clone is comming. Don’t forget NAIS that will require registratonÂ of property(fee), registration of each animal (fee), tagging (fee), report (fee) if the animal is moved or dies/is killed.Â Get the picture?
S0: no growing of food or food animals, no fishing, no hunting, no use of rainwater.Â Either it is all about money or it is all about complete and total control of the citizens and the nation.Â > Communism orÂ beyond to One World Government?Â Â I don’t think they would need to do all this for more profit. We are great about buying stuff!!Â So …Tin Hats please.Â
On the other hand in Calif the feds cut off the water to whole towns and valleys of the most productive food producing land in this nation. Farms are going under and so are towns. The laws that dried up the water were written by corporations and given to congressmen to pass. When the farms are forclosed on, theÂ richese, most productive land in the nation ( that supplies HALF of our fresh fruits and veg ) will be sold to guess who? How about the corporations who wrote the bill??Â And then they write another bill and get the water back on.Â Happy for them. Feel all warm and fuzzy?

Comments…..I have been farming/surviving for close to 50 years…was deeply involved in the fight against NAIS(still am)
I raise most of what I eat and supply family with good clean food…I intend to continue…to farm, to eat, and to live free…to hell with any pantywaste govicorp puss who tries to stop me.. thats where I will send him..enough is enough…people have got to realize they think they own us, and they dop if we play their game…growing your own food,or some of it or supporting a farmer who does is no longer a backup plan… we gotta quit playing the game their way! Be a rebel…grow something and eat it!!!!

Paul RevereJuly 28th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
“The government is insolvent, impotent, and failing in every way.Â Let them make all the rulesÂ they want.Â Iâ€™m not obeying.Â Â Iâ€™m a free man in a constitutional republic.Â Â Iâ€™ll do as I please.Â You hear that Homeland Security? You hear that Barry Soetoro?Â Â Â Â All of you government people go to hell, and hurry, your father Satan impatiently awaits you and your kindÂ .Â Â The rest of us will exercise our freedoms as our constitutional fathers intended us to.Â Â By force of arms we will protect our liberty, or die in the process of doing so. ”
Why couldn’t I find a good man like this to marry?

The content on this site is provided as general information only. The ideas expressed on this site are solely the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions of sponsors or firms affiliated with the author(s). The author may or may not have a financial interest in any company or advertiser referenced. Any action taken as a result of information, analysis, or advertisement on this site is ultimately the responsibility of the reader.

SHTFplan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.